Nine-day traffic jam stretches over 100km

Nine-day traffic jam stretches over 100km | News.com.au

Entering Virginia on I-495/I-95 (Capital Beltw...

Image via WikipediaThat traffic is almost as bad as the DC Beltway. The article is a good read, notice how the locals didn't waste time making a bit of cash on the side by selling things to the stranded drivers, who are reportedly spending their time playing cards.

Had that happened here in DC there would be cries of outrage because the traffic jam would violate our constitutional right to interstate commerce (it's true, you can't keep us from crossing state borders for business, it's in the friggin US Constitution) and the news coverage would be the most irritating thing ever aired on TV in this country.

My worst encounter with the DC Beltway had to be Thanksgiving 1997. We decided to visit my ex-Army-boss and his family in Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. We left Thanksgiving Wednesday around 3 PM. It took us 4 hours to drive from Reston to the north junction of I495/I95, and over 4 more hours from there to Eatontown, NJ. Horrible doesn't begin to describe it, the Beltway was basically a parking lot, it looked like the border crossing checkpoints between Mexico and the USA.

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